Charlotte, NC hosted the The Woodworkers Show this weekend at the Merchandise Mart. Our local turners club participated in the show by having a demonstration and providing some of our pieces for the public to come by and see. Now, maybe I'm naive or perhaps I've become complacent since I'm surrounded by such nice and generous people in our club, in this forum, and other forums but I think of the general woodworking population as wholesome people. Well, I made a mistake about that generality this weekend. I sent seven of my small boxes with finials to the show on Friday and I brought 3 1/2 back.
Someone picked up a cherry burl / ebony finial box, a peach / ironwood box, a grandillo / ebony finial box, and the top of a dogwood / ebony finial box. The boxes I have shown here over the last couple of weeks. I can't believe that someone who does woodworking and understands the time and effort it takes to make something would steal my work. I've had a couple of pens stolen from a consignment shop but they had a wide range of clientele.
At least I have some consolation that they thought my boxes were worth stealing and they ranked with some Lie-Nielson tools which they stole from a booth about two down from us. Maybe that means there is a demand for them when I get ready to sell some.
At least I've still got the pictures in this thread.